The Pros and Cons of CSAs
Seattlest Pix 09Nov08
Weekly Around the -Ists
Seattlest Pix 09Nov09
Can't Miss It: Monday
The Asubpeeschoseewagong (more easily pronounced as "Grassy Narrows First People") of Ontario, Canada are in town this week after a long twisty trip across the continent to meet with Weyerhaeuser officials and attend the Built Green Conference. The Seattle timber company buys wood that a company called Abitibi harvests from land that the Grassy Narrows First Peoples claim as their tribal lands in the Whiskey Jack forest of northern Ontario. The group has been conducting a public relations campaign against Weyerhaeuser for quite a while now, notably projecting images onto Seattle landmarks last April. Weyerhaeuser maintains that they are the wrong tree to bark up in this case.
So, did they get to speak their truth to power? Sort of. They got to sit down with Cassie Phillips, VP for Sustainability at Weyerhaeuser. From the FreeGrassy.org website:
The cultural distance was palpable. The team from Weyerhaeuser, in their pressed suits, attempting pleasantries like "I hope the traffic wasn't too bad"; and the team from Grassy Narrows, in their jeans and jackets, sitting solemnly across the table, waiting patiently to speak their truth.Gloria spoke of the prophecies of the elders who warned of the day when traditional medicines would hurt instead of heal. Warren spoke of the clear-cuts that robbed the youth of Grassy Narrows of the cultural traditions of their parents. Mariah explained how decades of mercury poisoning contaminated the fish she used to feed her family. In each of their stories, their demands were clearcut: "stop the clear cutting that is hurting our people"
Today they go to Everett and Built Green where they plan to rain on Quadrant Homes' parade. Again from FreeGrassy.org:
Tomorrow morning, we arrive at the BuiltGreen Expo in Everett. BuiltGreen is a regional green building program developed by the King County's Master Builder Association. It's a good program, but they've chosen the wrong company to honor with their annual award. That company is Quadrant Homes, a wholly owned subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser, who builds luxury with the same wood products manufactured from the forests of Grassy Narrows.
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Come on - how did you expect the folks at Weyerhaeuser's corporate headquarters to dress? These are their corporate people who have to dress in pressed suits - I'll bet you didn't see anyone in the building dressed in jeans - this is corporate America. And of course they exchanged pleasantries with their guests - did you really expect that they'd let them into the building and then scream obscenities at them?
A more unbiased and objective narrative of the meeting would be easier to read and more persuasive. So what did the Weyerhaeuser people say after Grassy Narrows had their opportunity to speak?